Chapter Nine

ZOEY HAD COME to several conclusions during her evening with Magnus in Rafe's Realm. Above all, she truly enjoyed talking to him. He'd yet again proven he wasn't a foolish brute who did things his way and his way only. There were layers to him. An intelligent, reasonable man beneath all the bravado and ego she'd come to know and dislike in the beginning.

Then, there was his inner dragon.

A beast she became more and more aware of. One that made it harder to keep her own dragon repressed, so although she didn't want the night and their endless conversations to end, she was grateful when he said it was time to rest. They would be setting out early the next morning. Even though she tried to return his fur to him, he insisted she use it as an extra blanket.

"You'll need more than just your clothes and the fire to keep you warm," she'd said. Realizing how that sounded and could be misconstrued as an invitation into bed, she'd clarified herself. "After all, the wind is picking up, and you don't have the furs on the bed to warm you."

"I can manifest furs if I need them," he reminded. The corner of his mouth had hitched, and his eyes flickered pale blue-green with his glorious inner beast. "I'm half dragon, woman. That means the elements won't bother me. I thrive well in cold temperatures and inclement weather."

While she took exception to being called woman again, she got the sense he said it to get a rise out of her. That as much as he didn't always agree with her opinions, he liked a little defiance. And while normally she might counter back, not because she found anything exciting about it—because she did not—she thanked him for the bed and let it be.

Or at least she thought she had as she cuddled beneath the furs, namely his fur, and breathed in his scent. It had been driving her crazy for the better part of the night, yet she'd been able to tame it. Or should she say harness her inner beast, but barely?

She'd become so practiced at keeping her dragon repressed she hardly knew what to do with this level of pushback. If anything, her human half felt more and more weakened by the struggle. Losing a fight that became a full-on battle the longer she was around him.

So it was a wonder she eventually dozed off because she must have, considering the next thing she knew, she was startled awake by a commotion. Better still, a memory or maybe even a dream by the looks of it because Magnus was oblivious, sitting in front of the fire sleeping, just where she'd left him.

At least the version of Magnus she knew in this life.

Meanwhile, someone she knew without question was the guy from the ship in her nightmare—Magnus in their previous life—rushed into the room. She put a hand over her mouth at the sight of the young, handsome man who was a mostly grown-up version of the little boy who had discovered her at the stream. He caught her attention as much now as he had then, if not more so.

"Leave her be," he roared, skidding to a halt in front of a young woman with long, flowing, ebony hair and delicate features who could only be Zoey. He held up his blade, protecting her. "Leave her alone!"

Soon enough, it became apparent who he spoke to when he clashed swords with several men who raced into the room behind him. Warriors he fought with everything in him to keep her safe. And it was every bit as arousing as it was terrifying. He ducked and swirled, avoiding their blades before he came at them hard, driving them back.

"They're my men," she whispered as they fought harder. Magnus was remarkably talented, cutting down three without hurting them all that much. "He's fighting my men."

She shook her head, trying to make sense of that as more warriors flooded in with shimmering dragon eyes. Far too many. Yet still, Magnus fought valiantly, keeping all away until a huge dragon swooped down over the ocean and raced toward them.

Raced toward Magnus.

Close. Closer.

"No," Zoey screamed when the woman she'd been in another life did nothing to stop it. Nothing to stop the massive dragon drawing closer, clearly determined to end Magnus. "Don't hurt him!"

She kept screaming it as the dragon drew closer with its long, deadly teeth bared. A terrible sense of fear and dread filled her, and she couldn't stop screaming, certain the dragon would get him. Knew it was too late.

"Zoey," Magnus soothed from what seemed far away. "Zoey, wake up. Please wake up."

"I am awake," she gasped, sobbing. "I'm watching...seeing...I tried to stop them, it, but I couldn't."

"Zoey," Magnus said more firmly when she couldn't stop crying. Could not stop feeling the terror of watching his life hang in the balance. "Wake up, Zoey. Now, woman!"

That must've gotten through to her somehow because her eyes snapped open, and the battle vanished. Instead, the fire had dwindled to embers, and rolling prisms of blue-green northern lights shimmered across the night sky, casting the cave in the same soft glow. She sniffled and inhaled a choppy breath, trying to ground herself. Not so easy when she realized she was still in bed, only wrapped up in Magnus's strong arms now.

He might have woken her abruptly, but his touch was tender as he stroked her hair and said soothing, un-Magnus-like endearments. He kept telling her all was well. She was safe and need not fear. He wouldn't let anything harm her this time. She had his word.

"You saw it too, didn't you?" she whispered because she couldn't quite find her voice. Not because of the terror she'd just experienced, either, but because she became more and more aware of his proximity. His spicy pine-ridden scent. The intense heat of his body against hers. "You dreamt of us in our last life?"

"I did," he rumbled, his voice sounding off as well. "But I cannot make sense of it. I cannot understand why..."

He didn't need to finish for her to know what he was about to say. She felt the pain in both his human and dragon. His confusion at defending her only for it to become clear she was going to let him get hurt or perhaps taken by either the dragon or the men fighting him.

She wasn't going to stand by him.

"I can't understand why either," she managed, her voice hoarse and shaky. She didn't push him away but snuggled closer. "Because I was frightened you were there. Terrified for you." She frowned, thinking about it. "But I don't think I could acknowledge it."

He kept stroking her hair and soothing her despite his own distress. Despite fighting the same desire she did based on the heavy arousal pressed against her thigh.

"So we were just as forbidden to be together as Rafe and Quinn?" he murmured. "Then why did I do what we just witnessed in that dream? Why make it so obvious?" She heard the frown in his voice. "Because wouldn"t that have made things difficult for you? For me? Even if you had denied we shared something we were not allowed to share, I'd think it would still pique unwanted interest."

"I agree," she said softly, mulling it over. Why would she have behaved that way when she knew she'd felt such fear for him, not just now but then? Knowing full well he followed her thoughts, she spoke aloud, however strange the topic considering in this life they'd only known each other mere days. "All I know is I, she...me felt incredible fear for your safety. Just like I felt in my nightmare when you were sailing into certain death, I knew you were doing something you shouldn't." She blinked back more tears. "Knew you were trying to help me but only hurting yourself instead."

"Helping you would not have been hurting me," he said just as softly. "Nevertheless, it seems I might have put us both at risk when trying to protect you against whatever I considered a threat."

"Which we know was most certainly shifters back then." Though difficult to move because she liked where she was a great deal, she repositioned herself until she could see his face, almost wishing she hadn't because his eyes seemed caught somewhere between the brilliance of the borealis and his inner dragon. "Not just that, but we can assume humans weren't happy with us either, given you were already committed to a prearranged marriage."

"I would imagine they weren't when they discovered it from shifters and full-blooded dragons alike." He brushed away a fresh tear she hadn't realized fell until the warmth of his weapon-roughened fingers touched her cheek. "Because it seems all were, in fact, very much involved as your nightmare implied."

"He was a full-blooded dragon, wasn't he?" she managed, more aware of Magnus by the moment if such were possible. "The dragon heading toward this cave in that life? And he was angrier than all the others...felt more betrayed."

"That was the impression I got," he confirmed gravely. After he wiped away the last of her tears, his fingers lingered and trailed slowly along her jawline. His brow furrowed, and his gaze swept over her face as if some part of him feared he would never see it again. "Because we did betray many. Not Rafe and Quinn in that life but I believe they were the select few. Mayhap the only ones."

"So I was a shifter, and you were human." She tried to recap and think clearly but was so terribly aware of him it was difficult. The dull throb between her thighs at his proximity had turned painful, and looking into his eyes didn't help. "I was...we were..." She tried to focus. "We were clearly breaking rules, and it seemed I wasn't about to admit it." She shook her head, struggling to think as heat burned through her blood and her vision hazed red with her inner dragon. "Or I wanted to but knew better and—"

"Enough for now, Zoey," he said softly, putting a finger to her lips. "This, us here and now, is becoming too difficult." His dragon eyes flared in response to hers. "You are vulnerable and in heat, and I haven't had a female in far too long." He cleared his throat, clearly trying to remain focused, too, as he seemed to fight inhaling her scent. "I will stay close and protect you, but I cannot remain in this bed any longer...not right now."

She couldn't quite explain what she felt at that moment because while yes, it was certainly arousal, it suddenly felt like more. Like something she needed to understand.

And something she could not do without anymore.

"No," she whispered, resting her hand on his chest when he went to leave the bed. When his gaze shot back to her face, and he went to shake his head, this time she put a finger to his lips. "Don't go...please."

"Do you understand what it means if I stay?"he said into her mind, only intensifying her need for him. He spoke aloud, transparent in a way she appreciated. "Better still, do you understand what your dragon will want from mine? What I will be helpless to stop if she makes herself clear, as I suspect she will? You will make it clear because your inner beast and your human are one and the same?"

"And what do you make of that?" she asked before she could stop herself, but something deep down inside needed to know.

A part of her didn't want to put him in a position he might not be ready for because the more their dragons bonded, the more she sensed him. The more she understood him to a degree.

But she did anyway, and there was no stopping it.

She propped up on an elbow, cupped his cheek, searched his eyes, and went on. "Because I know you didn't take any women after your wife passed. Yes, part of it had to do with seeing your men satisfied by females who were still healthy, but most of it had to do with heartache." She blinked back more tears, feeling his grief as if it were hers. "With not wanting to risk that kind of pain again."

"And I did every day, all day," he murmured, his gaze vulnerable and as lost in her eyes as she was in his, "until you made me forget with your...ability to have many opinions." The corner of his mouth twitched in amusement before his humor fell away as quickly as it had surfaced. "Now it seems everything has changed. Or mayhap, it"s becoming what it was always supposed to be...what it always was."

She had made a point of giving very little thought to children, not only because of her career but because of her issues with fire. She didn't want them potentially falling victim to what she was capable of with flames because it was so unpredictable and dangerous. Yet something about this moment, looking into his eyes, made her fears fade and something else ignite.

Something beyond tempting.

It was so addictive the red hazing her vision flared brighter, and she released a low growl that had everything to do with her inner beast. Desperate for him in a primal way she'd never experienced before, she flung aside the fur, straddled him, cupped his cheeks, and kissed him. It wasn't a soft, tentative kiss, either, but a hard, hungry kiss he met just as eagerly. A combustible, tongue-tangling kiss that made her feel like she was going up in flames. Made her grind her hips against him in a way she'd never quite moved with another man.

Sure, she'd ridden a guy or two in her time, but not the way she rolled her hips now. Not with an expertise that felt second nature with him as she dragged her clothed hot center back and forth over his hard length. In fact, he was so hard it was a wonder it could still be comfortably contained by clothing.

"Comfortable?"he grunted into her mind as their kisses only intensified. "There is nothing comfortable about..."

His inner voice trailed off when she made a growling sound she barely recognized as her own and, without understanding precisely how she did it, proceeded to chant away their clothes. She knew it was her, too, because her inner dragon had rushed to the surface in a haze of lust and need well beyond her control.

Especially when she touched his bare skin. Felt his hard, hot, muscular, tattooed chest beneath her fingertips. Ran her hands over his broad shoulders and down his strong biceps. Felt his steaming shaft against her swollen center.

She wasn't usually into sex, but something about how his kisses ignited her from the inside out, and the way his strong warrior's body felt against her made her into a monster, for lack of a better way to put it.

Or should she say into a dragon who wouldn't take no for an answer?

"I'm not too small for you after all, am I?" she murmured between hard, hungry kisses. "And I'm not unattainable," she went on, not quite sure why she said it. "Not anymore. Not—"

She gasped in equal parts surprise and pleasure when he flipped her beneath him and growled back at her, his dragon eyes the same brilliant turquoise as the lights being swiftly darkened by angry black clouds. Thunder rumbled in the distance as his skin sheened dark turquoise with his inner dragon, and he wrapped her hands around the wooden spindles of the bedpost above her.

He didn't have to say a word but dared her with his eyes to move as he yanked her thighs apart and made his way down her vulnerable body. While tempted to let go, sink her hands into his thick hair, and maintain control, he made swift work of imprisoning her in more ways than one as he feasted on every part of her.

At least, that's how it felt when he caressed and worshiped her small breasts as if he'd never encountered anything more desirable. Worshiped every part of her, despite—or perhaps because—her skin did something it never had with a man and shimmered black with what could only be her inner beast.

Though startled at first at her skin"s response to him, he gave her little time to think about it as he continued kissing his way down until he was between her legs, and she didn't care what color her skin was. Didn't care about a thing as she clenched the posts more tightly, closed her eyes, and groaned with pleasure.

Then she made more sounds she didn't recognize as he used his tongue and fingers in ways that made her arch and whimper and mewl. Made her climax so hard when he slid one finger inside her that she never thought she'd come down.

Never thought she'd survive more of it.

Yet she did when he kept suckling and worked another finger inside her, then a third. She death-gripped the spindles at the increased pressure, but it eased as he continued stimulating her in ways that made her climax again so hard she cried out, maybe even screamed, when she catapulted over the edge again.

However loud she'd been, whatever sound she might have made faded when he was there again. Over her. Kissing her. Loving her. Or so it felt when he kissed and suckled his way back up her body as she spasmed and jerked, trying to make sense of how hard her body was letting go.

"You understand, right, min lille droning?" Magnus whispered in her ear. He continued touching and stroking just enough to keep her climax from waning. Just enough to keep her going. "You understand you belong to me if we do this? That I will never let you go?"

"I belong to no man," she tried to say, but her vocal cords wouldn't work. Even if they did, she knew as their dragon eyes connected once more she wasn't talking to the man but the beast.

"No, not to the man if you reject me." When he traced her jaw with his finger and kept his gaze with hers, a jolt didn't just shoot through her body but made more mini climaxes burst everywhere. "But always to my dragon. Forever to my inner beast."

While some part of her understood what he was saying, a far larger, more lusty part didn't care. Had to feel all of him. Every last bit. Feel him fill her in all ways possible when that's the last thing she'd ever wanted from a guy. Sex? Of course. She got aroused like everyone else. Unprotected sex? Absolutely not. A man letting go inside her? No. A male dragon? A hard no.

Yet here she was, wanting him and all he entailed with every fiber of her being. So much she nodded and pulled him closer, ready for everything he had to offer.

So ready, she wasn't anticipating what he did next.

More pointedly, she wasn't expecting it to be so utterly disappointing.